Design of a steering control law for an autonomous underwater vehicle using nonlinear $$mathscr {H}_{infty }$$ state feedback technique

This paper proposes a new robust nonlinear (mathscr {H}_{infty }) state feedback (NHSF) controller for an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) in steering plane. A three-degree-of-freedom nonlinear model of an AUV has considered for developing a steering control law. In this, the energy dissipative theory is used which leads to form a Hamilton–Jacobi–Isaacs (HJI) inequality. The nonlinear (mathscr {H}_{infty }) control algorithm has been developed by solving HJI equation such that the AUV tracks the desired yaw angle accurately. Furthermore, a path following control has been implemented using the NHSF control algorithm for various paths in steering plane. Simulation studies have been carried out using MATLAB/Simulink environment to verify the efficacies of the proposed control algorithm for AUV. From the results obtained, it is concluded that the proposed robust control algorithm exhibits a good tracking performance ensuring internal stability and significant disturbance attenuation.